Opinion

Building Blocks: Modern fault lines

It has been almost 70 years since the Supreme Court made its precedent-setting decision to desegregate schools in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka case. While our nation has made immense progress from our former legal structures that openly endorsed blatantly segregated schools, we still have a long way to go. Approximately 6% of students currently in the American public education system are enrolled in gifted programs. The aforementioned group of students is overwhelmingly composed of white and Asian students, while many incredibly intelligent Black and Hispanic students are left without the same chances for academic advancement. For example, in New York City, almost three-fourths of students in gifted programs are white or Asian, despite the fact that Black and Hispanic students make up 65% of the school system.

Editorial: Lessons from a year of crisis

With every day that goes by, it seems less likely that we will ever “return to normal” — any post-pandemic world will be radically different than the one we left behind a year ago. So as we reflect on all that we’ve lost in the past year, we should also take a moment to think about what kind of new “normal” we want to create for the years ahead.

The case for continuing open-book testing post-pandemic

The beauty of these open-book tests is their unorthodox approach to a worthwhile objective — rather than testing a student’s ability to regurgitate information, these exams measure an individual’s ability to apply said information. As a result, students are compelled to understand the material to a much fuller extent than they would on a test based on solely  the recollection of information.

A call for open dialogue about impostor syndrome during the pandemic

Due to the pandemic, students no longer share the collective experience of grappling with academic challenges alongside their peers, whether it be in the classroom or in study groups. At a competitive university, the diminution or absence of community ties this year may intensify feelings of inadequacy and a lack of belonging.

The Honeymoon Period: President Joe Manchin

It has become increasingly clear in the first 50 days of his presidency that Joe Biden may not even be the most important “Joe” in Washington. West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who has consistently inhabited the vanishing political center, has had and will continue to have the final say over what President Biden can get through Congress. 

Cartoon: Legendary feats of strength

Editorial: To change TUPD, Tufts' words must be followed by action

Tufts' workstream report fails to offer guidance on the status of arming TUPD officers, only recommending the creation of a new working group to revisit the issue. Pushing this off to yet another working group represents an excessive delay, as every day that goes by with armed officers present on campus brings risk of violent escalation in TUPD-student interactions. In light of this, it matters that Tufts take swifter action to create a gun-free campus, and, hopefully, engage in a broader reevaluation of what service TUPD should actually provide.

Op-ed: Thoughts on justice

“Justice” is subject to interpretation; it is subjective, a double-edged sword. One’s justice can become another’s oppression. In order to reverse centuries of institutionalized and systemic racism and discrimination in this country, I would instead suggest “diversity” and “tolerance” as concepts to discuss, pursue and implement.  

Democracy in The Daily: Democratize elections

Two pieces of legislation needed to maintain U.S. democracy face grim fates in the Senate: the For the People Act (H.R.1) and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. 

Cartoon: My dog: This is fun

Op-ed: Transformative technology: China’s leap into the future

The extent to which the Chinese state controls the growth of domestic private technology has direct effects on the norms, practices and ethics of global data privacy, surveillance and intellectual property regulations. It is our responsibility to become informed about the dynamics of Chinese technological growth in order to better respond to the evolution of the global techno-ethical infrastructure during our lifetimes. 

Comfort Cartoons: Neo-noir and gothic 'Batman: The Animated Series'

Following the episodic adventures of Batman, Robin and Batgirl, the series takes on a darker tone that feels inspired by both Tim Burton’s two Batman films and the ‘70s and '80s comic books. Those interpretations are seen in every detail: Gotham City’s skies are dark even during the day, the buildings are tall and gothic and gangsters sneak around in alleys and side streets.

The Strike Zone: US, China and Taiwan

The United States has pledged to defend Taiwan for moral reasons, as the U.S. sees itself as a standard-bearer for democracy worldwide. However, the U.S. government often fails to walk the proverbial walk when it places human rights-based ultimatums on other countries, and it has a history of neglecting democracy when it benefits America economically.

Op-ed: Dear Tufts: Misleading students is no plan to address the climate crisis

Students at Tufts have been calling for fossil fuel divestment for the past decade, and despite marketing that portrays Tufts as a beacon of environmental leadership and active citizenship, the university continues to contribute to the destruction of our planet through investments in fossil fuels.

Building Blocks: Tabula rasa

In Locke’s "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding" (1689), he presented the idea that we are all born a blank slate, a tabula rasa, ready to be painted with acquired knowledge. His philosophy laid the foundations for the secular education system that seeks to paint millions of K–12 students’ blank slates today.

Cartoon: Different breed

Why circulating traumatic images isn’t activism

Although this acknowledgment of racism against Asians is much needed and long overdue, some of the methods through which people strive to draw attention to the issue have counteracted the goal of helping the Asian community. 

'Tom & Jerry' falls short of the original cartoon

Why do filmmakers feel the need to take successful entertainment and spin it into something ludicrous? While the answer to this is often simply that production companies are willing to exploit the original story for profit, it proves upsetting nevertheless. Unfortunately for the classic cartoon, Tim Story’s "Tom and Jerry" falls victim to just that.

The Honeymoon Period: America's prime minister

McConnell’s blatant obstructionism and norm breaking were the defining characteristics of his tenure as majority leader from 2015 to 2021. Had he retained his Senate majority following the 2020 elections, McConnell likely would have killed nearly all of President Biden’s proposals by the time they reached the Senate.

There is blame in the Texas energy crisis, but let’s not misplace it

As we acknowledge that this infrastructure collapse stems from policy choices and the nature of the system, we must hold Republican politicians accountable for how they are framing the issue and distorting public understanding of the roots of the problem. Instead of accepting what happened and making sure it doesn’t happen again, many Texas lawmakers turned to shifting the blame.